


she's got lions in her heart

by youmeandem



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 09:09:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9172837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youmeandem/pseuds/youmeandem
Summary: “Thank you, for everything. You saved a lot of lives today. Are you okay?”Lena nods and shrugs at the same time. “I’ve been better.”or:what should have happened after lena said “and i called the police.”





	

After Supergirl is done hugging the man who just turned into a gruesome white beast before becoming a man again, she looks at Lena.

“Thank you, for everything. You saved a lot of lives today. Are you okay?” she asks, eyes no longer dark, the confusion and what looked like anger about Lena’s supposed betrayal gone. She puts her hands on her sides like she always does, and she walks over to where Lena is standing—where Lena’s mother stood just minutes ago, too.

Lena nods and shrugs at the same time, her eyes on the small detective in a too large police jacket who just put handcuffs on her mother. “I’ve been better.”

“I understand,” Supergirl says, and something in her voice, or perhaps in the way she says it, makes Lena’s heart ache for her.

A few yards away from them, her mother is being put into a cop car, but she still manages to send a glare their way—a cold look, meant to hurt. One that roughly translates to _you disappointed me_ , and it briefly makes Lena wonder how her mother was so easily convinced they were finally on the same side, fighting the same battle. But at the same time she doesn’t really care. She’s tired, and all she wants is to go home.

“Can I go home now?” she asks, to no one in particular.

The detective, still intimidating despite her height, shares a look with Supergirl. “This is an ongoing investigation. We need more evidence to keep Lillian Luthor in custody. She,” she nods her head at Lena, “can provide us with an eye-witness testimony. And she was, in a way, involved with the plot so we might need to take her in for questioning, too.”

Lena’s heart feels heavy at the realization that even though she just pretty much single-handedly got her own mother arrested and saved the entire alien population of National City, the NCPD still doesn’t trust her. But she knows it’s important to keep her mother from wandering free, and what has to be done has to be done. She’s about to agree and let herself be taken to the police station when Supergirl steps in front of her, between Lena and the detective.

“Agent Sawyer, I think we can both agree on the fact that Ms. Luthor is the sole reason you just caught Lillian Luthor red-handed. If anything, you should be thanking her instead of arresting her.” She looks over her shoulder at Lena, offering a supporting smile. “And regarding that eye-witness testimony, I will personally see to it that Ms. Luthor will be at the station to give it to you, but not today. We still have a good amount of hours until you’re required to let Lillian go, and I think a well-deserved rest will only benefit the quality of the statement.”

Agent Sawyer glances between Lena and Supergirl, her eyes narrowing as she considers this, but then she nods at the both of them. “Alright. We’ll see you both at the station tomorrow, and review the situation again. Until then she’s your responsibility, Supergirl.” She doesn’t actually sound all that bad, just like any agent doing their job, although Lena has yet to find someone who can resist Supergirl’s word, which probably has a lot to do with her sudden lenience, too. “Good night. And Ms. Luthor, on behalf of the entire NCPD, thank you.”

“Good night,” Supergirl says back, but Lena is too busy processing what just happened. Supergirl stood up for her, against protocol, even after Lena lashed out at her just a day before.

By the time she finally finds her tongue, Agent Sawyer and most of the other cops are gone, and Supergirl is smiling a warm smile at her. “Shall I take you home, then?”

 

Contrary to what Lena expected, flying with Supergirl doesn’t flare up her fear of heights. Perhaps it’s the two strong arms locked around her like a cage, Supergirl’s body flushed against her own, radiating enough heat to cancel out the cold wind blowing in their faces, or the knowledge that if something were to happen and she did end up falling, Supergirl would be there to catch her.

The city lights turn into a blur beneath them as they fly past, and before she knows it, Lena’s feet touch the familiar concrete of the balcony outside her office at L Corp.

“There you go,” Supergirl says, releasing Lena from her grip.

A feeling of cold and loneliness overtakes Lena, and she looks away from Supergirl, who represents heroism and strength and a lot more things that apparently go together with ending up alone—for a Luthor, anyway.

A wave of mixed emotions—anger, relief, sadness, pride—washes over her, and there are so many things she wants to say. An apology for her behavior yesterday is on the tip of her tongue, as are thanks for not leaving her on her own, but all she ends up saying is: “You know, I don’t actually live here. It’s just my company’s building.”

Supergirl’s eyes widen at that, and she slaps her hand to her forehead. “Oh, shoot, of course. Tell me where to go and I’ll take you there.”

A guarded smile tugs at Lena’s lips. “You don’t have to. I can call my driver. I’m sure you have better things to do tonight.”

“No better things,” Supergirl says, in a tone so genuine that Lena finds herself actually believing it. “I’m perfectly happy spending my night with you. Or, rather, at your place. Where you live, I mean. If that’s alright with you, of course.”

“Yeah,” Lena replies, unsure if her heart just stopped or fluttered at Supergirl’s admission that she wants to spend time with her. She recites her home address and gives some general directions, and before she knows it they’re in the air again.

Except this time her heart is beating against her ribcage, and her palms are slippery against the blue fabric of Supergirl’s suit. She tells herself it’s because of the height and the flying, but she also knows that it’s a complete and utter lie.

 

Lena’s apartment is dark when they arrive, and she almost feels embarrassed that this is where she lives, because despite its luxurious interior design, it’s impersonal and the decorations are limited to the absolute necessities. Truth be told: she doesn’t spend a lot of time here, only to eat and sleep, and often times she orders takeout to her office instead.

She flicks on the lights, feeling Supergirl’s presence behind her as she walks into the living room to pour herself a glass of wine. Her first sip is accompanied by an odd swishing, and when she turns around, Supergirl is spinning in circles in an empty area, her cape freely moving around her.

“There’s so much space,” she exclaims, a grin on her face. “You have a pretty cool place, Ms. Luthor.”

“Please, call me Lena,” Lena says, holding up a second glass. “Would you like some wine?”

“Oh, no, thank you. I’m not supposed to drink and fly.” And when Lena stares at her with a puzzled look and one raised eyebrow: “That was a joke. You can laugh.”

“Oh,” Lena says, letting out a soft chuckle, feeling a bit lighter thanks to the poor attempt at a joke. She likes that Supergirl has a less serious, more human side, too. It makes it easier to see her as a person, rather than the one-dimensional hero the news makes her out to be. “Can I get you anything else, then?”

Supergirl gives her a warm smile, one that makes Lena’s stomach flip. “Just water would be fine.”

Lena nods, kicking off her heels before turning around and walking into the kitchen. She grabs a bottle of water from the fridge, not at all surprised when she hears the clicking of Supergirl’s boots against the cool tiles.

They sit down on the stools surrounding the kitchen island, and Lena slides the bottle of water across to Supergirl. Neither of them says anything for a while, and the air turns serious again.

Lena allows herself a moment of vulnerability to realize the severity of her actions tonight—after her father and Lex, she has also lost her mother now. She is alone, the last Luthor still standing. It’s a heavy burden to bear, and there’s no one left to support her.

Except maybe—Supergirl is staring at her with big blue eyes that somehow always seem to _know_. She doesn’t push Lena to talk, and almost completely ignores the way Lena’s eyes are suddenly swimming with tears.

“You know,” she says then, strong and gentle at the same time. “Your mother didn’t create the Medusa virus—my father did, back on Krypton. And the purpose was essentially the exact same as what your mother tried to use it for. He wanted to protect our planet from foreign intruders, from what would be aliens to our world. I’m not sure if you know, but it wouldn’t have hurt me or Superman. It was designed to spare Kryptonians, and to kill everyone else.”

Lena gives herself time to process this new information, allowing it to put things into a new perspective. Much like herself, Supergirl would’ve been unharmed yet she felt the need to help those that would’ve been hurt. Just because their methods of crime-fighting are different doesn’t mean there are no similarities between them at all, apparently.

“I’m sorry,” she says, eventually. “It sucks, feeling betrayed by a parent, doesn’t it?”

A flare of defensiveness flashes in Supergirl’s eyes, and for a moment Lena thinks she overstepped somehow, but then it’s gone and Supergirl just sighs.

“Yeah, it does.” She reaches over the kitchen island to give Lena’s hand a squeeze, and Lena almost breaks her wine glass in two in an attempt not to cry.

She doesn’t cry. Instead she squeezes back, and tries to give Supergirl a smile. And then, out of nowhere, she starts talking. “My parents died in a car accident when I was three. I was in the back of the car and made it out pretty much unscathed, somehow, but they were gone almost instantly. I spent a few months in an orphanage, until eventually the Luthors adopted me. But I always felt more like a charity case, something to show off their good will, than their daughter. They taught me to how to be a Luthor—to sit up straight, to smile and nod, to not embarrass them. Lex was the only one who treated me like a person instead of a thing, though my father wasn’t as harsh as my mother. But then Lex went to high school and I was shipped off to boarding school in Ireland.”

“Wait,” Supergirl interrupts. “Is that where the accent came from?”

Lena actually smiles this time. “Yeah, it is. It was great—the happiest time of my life. I made friends and got good grades, and even though the rules were strict, it was better than home. I wanted to stay in Ireland forever, but then my father got sick and I attended college in Metropolis instead, to stay close to home. He died a few months later, and it all went downhill from there. Lex got his hands on LuthorCorp, and my mother no longer pretended to care about me. I never saw any of my supposed friends again. Maybe they thought I’d gone bad, too, like Lex. I don’t know. And you know the rest—Lex was defeated by Superman, and my mother tried her hand at genocide.”

She sighs, and tries to pull her hand away from Supergirl to cover her face. But Supergirl doesn’t let go. She brushes her thumb over the back of Lena’s hand, and gives her a sad smile. “You’re a good person, Lena, and strong, too. You didn’t deserve any of this, but sometimes life isn’t fair, and somehow all of the bad things made you even better. And,” her smile turns sheepish, “for what it’s worth, I’m really, _really_ proud of you.”

Lena does cry, then; hot tears spilling down her cheeks, tiny sobs shaking her shoulders. And suddenly Supergirl is next to her, wrapping her arms around her waist, pulling her closer and holding her there. Strong and safe and warm. And Lena turns into her, buries her face into her neck, and cries. She cries for everyone she’s lost, for the never-ending pain inside her chest, for the weight of life pressing down on her. And Supergirl just holds her, rubs her back, and whispers words of comfort in a language Lena has never heard before.

It seems to go on forever, until Lena is tired and empty. She looks up at Supergirl, who has silent tears running down her cheeks, and sniffles. “I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came from.”

Something twitches in Supergirl’s face, right between her eyebrows, and for the first time Lena notices the small scar, a tiny indentation from a wound that must’ve happened on Krypton, because nothing can hurt the Girl of Steel anymore. Not physically, anyway.

“Don’t ever apologize for feeling,” Supergirl says, wiping her face with the back of her hand. “You have every right to be sad or angry or upset, always.”

“Okay,” Lena mumbles. “But I think I’m done now.”

Supergirl nods and smiles and hugs her again. “Okay,” she says. “That’s alright, too.”

Lena looks up at her, and even though every fiber of her being is screaming at her to stay as close to this girl as physically possible, she pulls away from the hug. She wipes her own face with the sleeves of her blouse, knowing full and well that she probably looks like a panda from all the smudged makeup, but she hasn’t scared Supergirl off yet so it can’t be that bad. She sniffles again. “Thank you. But…let’s not mention this to anyone, okay? I have an image to uphold, and crying into the arms of National City’s superhero, no matter how justified, doesn’t fit very well with that.”

“Yeah, of course.” Supergirl cracks a small grin, hesitant yet certain at the same time. “I mean, neither does crying because of L Corp’s CEO’s tragic backstory.”

And, despite herself and despite everything else, Lena can’t help but grin a little, too. Because maybe this Luthor and this Super aren’t so different after all.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading. if you enjoyed it, please leave your thoughts in the comments.
> 
> the title is from superheroes by the script
> 
> come yell at me on tumblr @ lenacorporations or on twitter @luthvers


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